As is known, a variety of consumer electronics (e.g., televisions, radios, audio receivers, audio cassette decks, turn tables, compact disc (CD) players, video cassette records (VCRs), digital video disc (DVD) players, satellite receivers, cable boxes, other audio and/or video equipment, electronic appliances, lighting fixtures and/or ceiling fans, etc.) come equipped with wireless remote controls. A remote control (RC) of this type typically includes a keypad comprising a plurality of physical buttons or keys. The keypad is used by a user to effect wireless remote operation of the corresponding device, e.g., via an infrared or radio frequency interface. Notably, many RCs included with consumer electronics are designed to operate only the specific device or devices that they accompany.
Commonly, a user may have a plurality of devices and corresponding RCs. Users tend to find having an array of RCs burdensome. A collection of different RCs for multiple devices may be viewed as cluttering a user's living space, and users may find it confusing or undesirable to have to remember which RC operates which device. Occasionally, a manufacture may program a remote control to operate a plurality of associated devices provided by that manufacture. However, incompatibility between RCs and devices from different manufactures can be experienced.
RCs have been developed, commonly referred to as universal remote controls (URCs), that are capable of being programmed by a user to operate a variety of different devices provided by a variety of different manufactures. In effect, the URC replaces or mimics a plurality of otherwise distinct RCs. However, the previously developed URCs have been found to have certain limitations. Typically, they are only capable of supporting a small fixed number (e.g., 3 or 4) of specific related devices, e.g., a television, cable box, VCR and DVD player. That is to say, they are designed to replace or mimic a fixed set of specific RCs.
Additionally, the previously developed RCs often cannot or do not provide all the functions of the original RC it's replacing or mimicking. Commonly, the keypad of the URC is hard-wired with a fix configuration of physical buttons. Accordingly, a given URC may not contain all the buttons designated for every function on the original RC being replaced. Furthermore, where devices have similar functions, e.g., as may otherwise be associated with a button having similar or the same designations, operation of the URC can be confusing to the extent that the user may not readily recognize the device being controlled with that button.
Programming previously developed URCs can also be tedious, confusing and/or overly burdensome for users. For example, a code is entered for each original RC that the URC is replacing or mimicking or for each device the URC is to support. That is to say, the URC is programmed to mimic a fix number of specific original RCs. The entered codes then identify those original RCs (or their corresponding devices) that the URC is to replace. However, the URC in this case is limited to replacing or mimicking only those RCs for which the URC has the appropriate programming. That is to say, it is often the case that the URC is only capable of mimicking those RC from manufacturing years that precede the manufacturing year of the URC insomuch as the specifications of subsequently manufactured RCs and/or their associated devices were not available at the time the URC was initially programmed.
Another drawback to many previously developed URCs is a lack of user familiarity. A user may become accustom to the appearance, feel and keypad layout of the original RC provided with a particular device. Accordingly, it can be confusing and/or uncomfortable when the user employs a URC that does not have the same look or feel. Importantly, when the URCs keypad does not have the same layout and/or configuration as the original RC it is mimicking, the functions of particular buttons on the original RC have to be transposed to physical buttons on the URC that have dissimilar locations and/or dissimilar appearances. This can be confusing to users.
Accordingly, the present invention contemplates a new and improved universal remote control that overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.